Lamentations: "He does not willingly bring affliction"

I mentioned to a friend that I was rereading the book of Lamentations, and she said to me, "Oh, so you like being depressed?"

Yes. Yes, I do.

But also out of Lamentations comes one particular scripture that has been a powerful encouragement to me during my own recent trials and afflictions, such as they have been. In fact, much of the text was set to music in 1978 and appears in many hymnals under one of the most upbeat and joyful tunes to be found therein. If you have a background in the church, see if any of this sounds familiar. If you don't, see how any of this connects with your own struggles, or think of how different it is from the way you respond to them.



Lamentations 3:19-33

"I remember my wandering and affliction,
the bitterness and the gall.
I remember them well and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's Great love we are not consumed.
For His Mercies never come to an end.
They Are New every morning.
How Great Is Your Faithfulness!
'The LORD Is my Portion,' says my soul.
'Therefore I will wait for Him.'

And the LORD Is Good to those whose hope is in Him.
It is good to wait quietly on the Salvation of the LORD,
and it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust; there may yet be hope!
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him;
let him be filled with disgrace.

For the LORD does not cast men off forever.
Though He brings grief, He will show compassion.
For so Great Is His Unfailing Love
that He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men."



One of the most common questions that comes up in theological debates is this: How can God be both all-powerful and yet allow so much suffering to exist in the world? It is an entirely valid question with really no entirely valid answer. This is because often what the person is really asking is not what ends up getting the response.
Usually when a person asks this question he or she means to say, "I have suffered greatly, and I continue to suffer. What could you possibly say about God to ease my suffering?" And the correct answer to this is silence. Anything other than silence can only sound presumptuous and will be met with derision, because for true suffering, mere logical arguments cannot heal.
But in the rare situation where a person who asks the question is disinterested and is actually looking for logical arguments, there are multiple options. The best one, I think, is to acknowledge that in a world with so much suffering there are two possible responses to that suffering.
1) There is meaning and importance behind this suffering.
2) This suffering is meaningless.
Which response do you think is better to believe?
However, while the first response seems on its face to be the more hopeful, C.S. Lewis pointed out a rather frightening truth about it in A Grief Observed. He said that even if God is nothing more than a torturer who delights in hurting us, we can be sure that in time He will eventually tire of us and leave us alone. But if God Is instead a Good Surgeon, we can only expect the cutting to go on until the job is complete. His Desire for our ultimate well-being means that we can expect suffering to go on, but perhaps we can find satisfaction in knowing that it is a meaningful suffering.

Jeremiah, the writer of the book of Lamentations, found an everlasting spring of Hope from within, knowing that his suffering, however constant (as you can read in his other self-named book), was deeply important.

"I remember my wandering and affliction, the bitterness and gall. I remember them well and my soul is downcast within me."

Jeremiah casts these two things, wandering and affliction, together as the culprits behind his sorrow. It is easy to know how he suffered physically (affliction) from reading his books, but less obvious is what he brings up first here the wandering. This sense of being lost and alone is something that has dogged him during these tribulations. We all experience this, no matter what our particular struggles are. And it seems impossible sometimes to not dwell on them, to be obsessed by them, to be overwhelmed with depression and desperation contemplating where we have been and what the future seems inevitably to hold for our sorry lives.

"Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have Hope.

Because of the LORD's Great Love, we are not consumed. For His Mercies never come to an end. They Are New every morning. Great Is Your Faithfulness!"

Jeremiah chooses to believe, in the midst of all this horror, that God still has a plan for him, and therefore God will keep him alive. We are broken, but never beyond repair. Were it not for God's Love and Plan, we could well be driven into a black pit of despair forever, and as sinful Christians we honestly believe that we deserve nothing more. But because of His Love, we are not consumed in the fire that refines us. His Mercies never run dry, but sustain us every new day. Though we are constantly unfaithful to Him, despite our best efforts, His Faithfulness towards us is unending, unrelenting.

"'The LORD Is my Portion,' says my soul. 'Therefore, I will wait for Him.'"

A normal response to this is, "Yeah, it's easy enough to say, not so easy to do when you're going through it." That's absolutely right. It is easy to say and very hard to actually find the hope when everything appears hopeless. But sometimes all you can do is wait for Him. Find what hope you can, even though it doesn't seem immediately satisfying. In the midst of true turmoil, nothing can be an immediate salve. In the long run, God Is the Only Satisfaction. Jeremiah says we should trust that what little hope we do entertain will grow. And then wait.

"And the LORD Is Good to those whose hope is in Him. It is good to wait quietly on the Salvation of the LORD."

There can be no proof of this but in the testimony of Jeremiah, and my testimony, and the uncountable testimonies of those who have found hope and meaning in God. But do not think that any of us received instant relief from a mere thought. Healing comes slowly.

"And it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him."

These lines are both a terror and a comfort to me. Jeremiah suffered some of his worst times while still very young. Perhaps most of us do. But there is something of resilience and hope in youth that we will lose as we age. As we begin to go blind and deaf, a lot of our earlier joys will no longer be what they were. We are guaranteed suffering in our older years that we cannot imagine while in the prime of life. So Jeremiah tells us that it is good for us to practice suffering. It is good that we should bear the yoke, and learn to bear the yoke, now so that we can do so gracefully even when the situation seems far darker. A yoke is an image of burden often used by the Hebrews, and also often an image of companionship. It is the harness that connects the ox to a plow, and usually is shared with one other ox. Who will you be to your fellow-sufferers? Will you be a nagging refrain of misery, or a groan of encouragement? And while alone, will you curse God for giving you hard times, or can you bear to sit in silence, experience the suffering, and trust and wait for eventual relief?

"Let him bury his face in the dust; there may yet be hope! Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him; let him be filled with disgrace."

Most notable in this is the little-known quote that Jesus references in the sermon on the mount: "turn the other cheek." Jeremiah said, and Jesus after him, that it is a noble and fitting thing to suffer graciously, as quietly as possible. We are to do whatever good we can for ourselves, and then submit to whatever pain God has ordained for us, whether that pain is physical or psychological.

"For the LORD does not cast men off forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion. For so Great Is His Unfailing Love that He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men."

Despair is always temporary, but its greatest hurt against us is that is seems to be unending. As Lewis pointed out, God Is a Good Surgeon, but even He finds a way to give us new hope in the midst of this long surgery. Healing is on the road ahead, and pain is the only way to find a healing that lasts.

Again, none of this can be confirmed but by individual testimonies. But what will you choose to believe? That your pain is meaningless? Or that your suffering has a purpose, that it will make you more compassionate towards others, more desirable as a yoke-fellow, a help and a hope to your friends in need?